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Wampanoag Takeover: Ocean Conservation and Land Ownership with Q&A with Kitty Hendricks

Native Land Conservancy (NLC) was founded in 2012 in Mashpee, Massachusetts. It is the first Native-run land conservation group east of the Mississippi.

After centuries of hardship and economic struggle, it is only now that they can finally attend to the important work of protecting sacred spaces, habitat areas and other essential ecosystem resources to benefit Mother Earth and all human beings.

Some of the most productive ecosystems in the world are provided by areas of seagrass, which here in the UK are home and hunting grounds to an incredibly diverse community of animals, from tiny invertebrates to large fish, and marine mammals.

As a fishing tribe, the Wampanoag - in common with all Eastern native people - see the conservation of the sea as essential to ensuring they are able to maintain their long-held traditions. Seagrass is of fundamental importance and plays a critical role in this.

It is also recognised here in Plymouth, UK, where organisations such as the National Marine Aquarium and the Ocean Conservation Trust have done vital work in preserving seagrass here and beyond.

The National Marine Aquarium (NMA) in Plymouth UK has its own Seagrass Lab, where the team grows seeds that will then be planted in the Ocean to help restore these natural habitats and protect the species in our seas.

Join NLC board member Kitty Hendricks as she takes us through the Conservancy’s aim to preserve healthy landscapes for all living things and help restore land back to its original state wherever possible.

Kitty will look at why seagrass is so important to the health of the ocean and unpack how NLC draw upon their collective traditional cultural knowledge as indigenous people with generations of direct experience in the woodlands, coastlines, and waterways of New England to carry out their work.